A racial discrimination lawsuit filed against the state Attorney General's Office by a former employee has been reinstated by a state appeals court today.

Kenneth Green, a former deputy attorney general, says he overheard a co-worker make a derogatory comment about black women in 2003. When he told a supervisor, Green says the supervisor told him he didn't have to report it.

Green also says the supervisor and others retaliated by claiming he had made the remark and investigating him for violations of department policies.

The suit was dismissed in 2007 after delays on both sides over court filings, and a judge in February denied Green's motion to reinstate the lawsuit.

Today's decision reversed that ruling, saying that Green shouldn't have been blamed for the delays.